Writing The Siege Of Leningrad

What a truly outstanding collection. Bringing together letters and diaries, memoirs and interviews, these are the words of the women of Leningrad, the individuals who lived through the Siege, history through the words of the ordinary people that experienced it.

Wonderfully put together, edited and translated, the foreword, introduction, preface, and conclusion were useful in putting the events into context, but the main body and most important part of the book are the excerpts written by the Leningraders. This main body is split into: Diaries and Letters, Memoirs and Oral Histories, and Documentary Prose. The prose section was certainly my least favourite, and I didn't fit it felt quite as well with the rest of the book, but still found it worth reading.

Each except is preceded by a little introduction with information the editors have been able to track down on the writer. As the editors conclude, the “informants continually highlighted individual differences,” meaning every perspective is unique, whatever work each woman carried out during the Siege, whatever their background, and whatever they faced following the end of the Siege. Some of the excerpts are not as detailed or well written as others, but then again that's the beauty of this collection—it brings together writers of all educational backgrounds and, of course, it's important to remember, especially with the diaries and letters, that most of these “writers” were only really writing for themselves. That's what makes them so fascinating and such a terrific insight into life at the time.

Looking back over my notes, these are the sections I recommend the most. (Under a spoiler tag because this ended up being so long, and you may prefer to just read them for yourself, but not really a spoiler, as this is history, after all):

- Anna Petrovna Ostroumova-Lebedeva's Diaries: an artist and book illustrator. Firstly, Ostroumova-Lebedeva highlights the difficulty of trying to continue with work, her calling, while facing starvation:All last week I was writing my "Autobiographical Notes, Vol. II," [...] I write sluggishly, and with difficulty. I haven't eaten well for the past ten days. The academic ration I was allotted, and which I received for the first on 8 April, wasn't distributed in May. And on what they give on the ration cards, it is impossible to survive, without starving, or losing the ability to work, or dying. Another point of interest are Ostroumova-Lebedeva's thoughts on the injustices she observes such as the State's view on the dependent, "superfluous" population.- Vera Sergeevna Kostrovitskaia's Diaries: a ballet dancer and teacher. She describes an astounding experience of listening to a group of musicians who continue to try to play, despite their suffering, as the city grows silent around them: Could these musicians really have had reserves of food? . . .—They continued to play.But the more the city became shrouded in silence, the weaker became the sounds of their music. First the bass fell silent, then the flute could no longer be heard, and, as if paralyzed by the cold, the tempo of the clarinet and trumpets became slower. . . .The one who could still play lay on his back, he was so thin that you could only measure his length; not his volume. Alongside him on the cot lay his trumpet. Sometimes he would sit up and bring the instrument to his lips. It was the only thing that he could give his comrades in place of heat, fire, and bread.—It was nonetheless courage—Several began to stir, were delirious for a while, then again settled down on their cots. Incredibly, some concerts and performance continue to take place in the city, but Kostrovitskaia describes her concern for her students as they struggle to find the energy to perform: On stage I led him by the arms as he "danced," I tried not to watch, and during the intervals off-stage, he drooped in my arms and vomited the kasha he had eaten. She then has to watch her students die one by one, and this leads her to question why some, still, seem to have plenty, while others are left with nothing. Like Ostroumova-Lebedeva, she also questions why the vulnerable dependents are left to perish:This is her point of view: if a person has a dependent, then the latter has a responsibility to die, and if he doesn't die because you share your ration with him, then that is not only stupid, it is a superfluous luxury. [...] For—a young life is needed by the government, but an old one is not.- Sof'ia Nikolaevna Buriakova's Diaries: a housewife whose family were originally from a village outside the city. Her account of her husband's death was particularly heartbreaking: First, he fell to his knees, and then he collapsed onto his back and lay on the pavement. I was terrified. I started to beg the passerby to help get him home, I promised them bread, but the people passed by, unconcerned, not glancing at him. [...]It became clear that I had to find someone to help. Several times I went out into the courtyard. The yard was deserted. There were no tenants anywhere. I was exhausted from going up and down the stairs. Night fell. I was frightened, not knowing how I would get through the night. [...] Suddenly I heard footsteps, and a woman passed by. It was Zhenia Ivanova. She recognized me first and asked why I was standing there. I started crying bitterly and told her that my husband had died and there was no one to help me prepare him for burial.- Ol'ga Nikolaevna Grechina's Memoir and Interview: as a second year student at the university, she was forced to withdraw due to the war. Writing her memoir was a way for her to try and understand the past: Can I describe everything as it really was?! Probably not. Because it was nonetheless someone else's grief. [...] But perhaps it is the most valuable thing that I can leave people in memory of that time and of myself. After all, now, already, almost no one living in Leningrad after the war knows or wants to know about the Siege.- Valentina Fedorovna Petrova's Memoir and Interview: a research assistant and employee at Leningrad Radio during the war. These excepts provide an insight into the running of the radio, as well as the Orthodox churches in the city, many of which were surprisingly active during the war, considering the treatment of the Church by the state both before and after the war.- Valentina Il'inishna Bushueva's Interview: a worker and manual labourer during the war. She describes the harsh reality of relying on the highest level of ration card, for workers, and her feeling of duty to continue working despite illness and her failing body.- Kseniia Makianovna Matus's Interview: a musician who was part of the historic performance of Shostakovich's Seventh (Leningrad) Symphony. The musicians felt some kind of duty to continue performing, despite the terrible conditions, and Matus describes how hard physically it was for both them, the performers, as well as the audience: ...in the concert hall there were only the ghosts of listeners, and on the stage the ghosts of performers. Because the men who played the brass instruments couldn't hold them in their hands—they were beginning to freeze. She also describes how musicians had to be brought back from the front for the Symphony to go ahead: They would find out which units the musicians were in and send out a dispatch that so-and-so was needed to perform the Leningrad Symphony.- Ol'ga Il'inichna Markhaeva's Interview: a senior researcher at the National Museum of the Defense of Leningrad. She describes the tragic fate of the museum after the war, during the "Leningrad Affair", as well as its eventual revival during the days of "perestroika." She discusses diaries as a historical resource, which it's very fitting for this collection: We have quite a lot of diaries. Students wrote diaries. Very ordinary people. And it is very strange, that during a siege people write. . . . Thanks to these sources, our exhibits have taken on different characteristics. . . . Right now I am keeping a diary, it is a diary of perestroika. But in fifty years this diary will acquire a different meaning. And that's exactly what happened here. Many things that no one attributed any significance to in those days now have acquired great value.